


Promises to Keep

by Medie



Category: Indiana Jones, Supernatural
Genre: Community: spn_xx, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-24
Updated: 2010-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-07 12:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass." -- Maya Angelou</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises to Keep

** Carolina: **

The cold stone of the mausoleum wall scraped against Carolina's arm as she pressed back into its unyielding surface. Holding her breath, the archaeologist counted off the second as she waited, listening for the sound of the guard's footsteps to fade. A sound she could barely hear over the adrenaline-fueled pounding of her own heart.

She grinned and licked a bead of sweat from her upper lip. Times like this reminded her why her students called her crazy, she lived for these moments. Insanity was the Jones' family business.

The guard's footsteps slowed and lingered, she saw the quick flash of his lighter seconds before the seductive scent of cigarette smoke filtered around the corner. Of course, she always got the smokers.

Closing her eyes, she suppressed the urge to curse when her cell phone vibrated against her hip. Of _course_ it would ring now. She kept a cautious eye on the corner as she slipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out the phone. A glance at the caller ID said it was Jane and Carolina relaxed.

Jane would wait; she knew the drill. Deciding to risk it, Carolina edged along the mausoleum and away from the guard. When she was around the far corner, she flipped open the phone and brought it to her ear. "I thought I told you never call me at work."

Jane laughed. "I don't listen to you."

"Point," Carolina said. "Okay, so while I'm risking my life chatting you up, what is it?"

"You forgot the final."

"I did not!"

"Yep, did. It's not on the computer, not in your office, however, there's a legal pad full of chicken scratches that could be, with the aid of a Ouija board and mind-altering substances, the notes for an exam –" Jane trailed off, smug.

"Fuck," Carolina sighed. "I forgot again."

"Yes, you forgot again," Jane agreed. "How much do you love me?"

"Enough that you'll have mercy on my forgetful self and pull together an exam for me?" Carolina said hopefully. "I'll bring you something shiny."

"Shiny, expensive, and something that hasn't been liberated from a corpse?" Jane added.

"Something shiny, expensive, and has not been liberated from a corpse, I promise," Carolina said.

"Uncross your fingers and say that," Jane countered.

Cursing, Carolina uncrossed her fingers and obediently repeated it. "Good?"

"Good." Jane agreed. "It'll be ready when you get back. You know you don't pay me enough, right?"

Carolina snorted. "Uh huh," she said dryly, deciding not to raise Jane's temper by pointing out who really _did_ pay her salary. Carolina's battles with the university were legend on the matter of Jane's pay. "And who has more pretty, shiny toys than all the other TAs on campus?" she asked, stepping out into the Parisian night. Not waiting for Jane to answer she said, "Book me a flight, will you? The faster I get out of here, the better."

"You got it?"

"Yeah," Carolina said, "I got it. Getting it's the easy part; keeping it is a bitch." Skulking across the lawn, she looked over her shoulder for the guard. "Just make sure that plane's ready, okay?"

"And waiting," Jane said. "I'll see you when you get stateside, try not to piss anybody off before you get here."

Reaching the spot where she'd hidden her rental car, Carolina opened the door and looked up at the sky. "Oh come on, Janie," she teased, "You know I never _try_ it."

Jane snorted and hung up on her.

"Point," Carolina said, sliding into the car.

-

True to her word, Jane had the exam ready and waiting when Carolina finally reached her office, a day later. Rubbing her back, Carolina eased down into her chair and gave it a look. "Explain to me why I keep taking these damn jobs?" she groused. "My back is killing me."

"Quit being a baby," Jane said, putting a cup of coffee and two pills before her. "You take these jobs because you're an adrenaline junkie and a Jones."

"I thought those two were synonymous," Carolina mused, tossing back the pills and chasing them down with a mouthful of the coffee.

"They are," Jane said. "But being a Jones also means a habitual need to piss off governments, have three near-death experiences a day, and let's not forget the Nazis."

"Neo-Nazis these days," Carolina smiled prettily, "God, I love my life."

"I work for a lunatic," Jane muttered. "Who is quite possibly the best boss alive," she added, taking the necklace Carolina held up. "It's got energy."

Carolina watched her heft it in her hand and nodded. "And a lot of history. I didn't steal it," she assured, grinning. "A very nice little old lady in Nice said a whole lot about it. I suspect much of that was bullshit, but it still vibed as interesting so there you are."

She leaned back in her chair, absently rubbing her back. "Bobby show up yet?"

"No, but he's called three times." Jane pushed messages toward her. "Whatever it is he sent you after must've been important."

"Dagger," Carolina said. "Blessed by some saint, I forget which one. Not Val Kilmer or Roger Moore at any rate." She pouted. "I never get the pretty ones anymore."

"As long as it's not George," Jane said. "I'm still working on ghosts and demons; you add dragons to it and I'm done."

Pushing the messages aside, Carolina raised a brow at her. "Jane? You're a _psychic_," she said, a grin tugging at her mouth. "All this stuff is nothing new to you."

"I'm a sensitive," Jane replied, running her fingers along the silver link chain. "Not John Edwards."

"You've seen ghosts before," Carolina reminded. "If this stuff bothers you, this is a lousy place to work." She grinned. "I deal with the dead."

"You deal with the thousands of years dead," Jane sniffed. "The most I deal with around here is getting propositioned by two Amazons and a Roman general. _Not_ the same thing."

Carolina made a face, reaching for her coffee. "Great, the dead are getting more action than I am."

"Well, it helps to stop punching the boys in the face," Jane shrugged.

"I did that _once_!" Carolina protested. "And Winchester had it coming!"

"They usually do," Jane demurred, heading for the door. "Call Bobby, get that dagger out of here before this place turns into Jurassic Park."

"It wasn't St. George," Carolina said, but reached for the phone anyway.

"Whatever," Jane called over her shoulder, "You're not paying me to make coffee for dead people."

"I'm not paying you at all," Carolina said under her breath and made a note to bring that up at the next meeting with the Dean. As long as she kept doing favors for hunters, keeping Jane happier was a priority.

Surprisingly, it was not that easy to find temps who happened to be Latin-speaking sensitives.

 

** Jane: **

"I don't believe it," Bobby protested, wadding up a paper napkin and throwing at her.

Carolina smiled blithely and sipped her coffee. "Believe it," she said. "It's easier than a gun."

He snorted. "You expect me to believe carrying a bullwhip through customs raises less eyebrows than a _gun_?"

Knowing what was coming; Jane rolled her eyes and looked at her computer screen, refusing to encourage Carolina's mischief. Not that she needed any encouragement.

"Yes, I do," Carolina said. "Guns tend to inspire all sorts of reactions in airport security, not to mention I have to worry about permits and explanations. But a single woman traveling with a bullwhip is just kinky. I'm the talk of airport water coolers world wide."

"Jones," Bobby pointed at her, "you're full of it."

Jane considered it the height of self-control that she didn't snicker, not that Carolina didn't pick up on her amusement. When she glanced up, she saw the knowing grin Carolina was giving her. "I didn't say a thing," she defended, smiling innocently.

_You were thinking it_, the spirit sitting by her desk put in.

She gave him a dirty look and muttered, "Quiet you, we've got company."

He slanted a grin at her and adjusted his hat. _Him? Like he's a problem_.

Jane glanced at Bobby and Carolina, relieved when she saw Bobby get up and follow Carolina into her office. There, she saw Carolina produce the dagger that she had procured for him and they were haggling price. "He's a _hunter_," she warned in a whisper. "You want him busting rock salt into your protoplasmic ass?"

_Can't shoot what you can't see_, the spirit said, shrugging.

"He sees me talking to air he's going to wonder." Jane pointed out.

_So be more careful._

She rolled her eyes. "Not only does Carolina bring back another haunted artifact, it has to be haunted by a smartass." Hitting print on her laptop, she leaned back and looked at him. "Amscray, Casper. We'll do the "go to the light thing" later; I've got work and you? Well, you've got whatever it is spirits do."

With a tip of his hat to her, the spirit disappeared and left her to her work. Thinking over her words to him, Jane sighed and rubbed her forehead. Just perfect. If the staff toilet got backed up again, Carolina was going to strangle her.

"God, ghosts are a pain in the ass," she muttered, getting up to collect the exams from the printer. "How my grandmother ever called it a gift, I don't know."

"Problems?" Carolina said from the doorway, Bobby beside her.

"Nothing I can't handle," Jane said with a shrug, hoping Bobby hadn't heard the last part. Most hunters were notoriously twitchy about the whole "talk to the dead" angle and she wasn't in a rush to be broadcasting it. "Exams will be ready on time, oh great and mighty one."

Bobby grinned. "You must give her hell most days."

"Somebody has to," Jane said, sighing dramatically. "I can only hope that I, as her long suffering assistant, am up to the job." She gestured at the wrapped dagger in his hand. "Everything up to par?"

"Surprisingly," he said, shooting a grin at Carolina. "She's not her granddaddy, but she's pretty damn good at the job just the same."

"Oh _thank you_," Carolina said dryly. "Your gratitude for my life-endangering antics overwhelms me."

"Drama queen," said Jane, shoving the exam at her. "Here, read that and make sure it's up to par before I print the rest."

"I thought you had that done," Carolina said, but took it nonetheless.

"It is done," Jane shrugged. "I'm just not going to print off a few hundred of those, get them all ready to go, and have to do it all over again because you forgot to ask them what color Cleopatra's toenails were."

Bobby snorted. "I like her," he said to Carolina.

"You would," she muttered, flipping through the exam.

"You ever get tired of working for her," Bobby said, grinning at Jane. "Give me a call."

Carolina lifted her head and looked at him. "You run a junkyard."

"So do you," Jane smiled sweetly. "Now, finish that exam so I can get out of here on time." She arched a brow. "Some of us have social lives." She turned to Bobby. "You need anything else before you go?"

"Cup of coffee for the road if you've got some," he said.

"Best on campus," she assured.

-

With Bobby fully caffeinated and dispatched back to the wars, Jane returned to her desk to wait out Carolina's exam-critique. Twirling a pencil between her fingers, she looked back at the small office and watched Carolina's pony-tail bob as her head moved over the exam.

"She finish her exam critique yet?" Kate Wandell said, stepping into the office and giving Jane a commiserating grin.

"Nope," Jane shook her head. "She just started actually. Bobby came by to pick up the dagger."

"Right," Kate nodded, dropping her bag by the other desk and sitting down. She twisted her legs up beneath her in a near-unbelievable position as she pulled out her laptop and hooked it up. "Anything show up around it?"

Again Jane shook her head. "There's someone hanging around though," she said. "I haven't figured out what he came in with yet." She looked around. "Haven't seen him since Bobby was here."

"You kicked him out again, didn't you?" Kate asked, twisting her dark hair up with a red pencil. Deep blue streaks decorated her hair today, complimenting the shades of blue that made up the gaily-printed skirt now twisted around her legs. Amused by the eccentric outfit, Jane got up to refresh her coffee. "You know, Jane, for a sensitive, you're pretty rude to the dead."

"Oh, _I'm_ rude?" Jane snorted. "You have not known rude until you have had an eighty-five year old grandmother charge into your bathroom, interrupting the first bit of private time you and your boyfriend have had in weeks. And why is she charging into your bathroom? The paramedics accidentally locked her cat Oliver in the basement. _That_ is rude."

"Drama queen," Kate said, booting up the laptop. "So, what does the Grand High Pooh-Bah want me to track down today?"

Putting Kate's Scooby mug on her desk, out of elbow reach, Jane turned back to her own desk and dug through the paperwork to find the list. "Start with these. She needs anything you can tell her." She put the paper down next to the mug. "But try not to get caught hacking into anymore government databases."

Kate looked up, innocence personified. "I have never done anything of the sort."

"Right," Jane snorted. "Just keep it quiet, okay?"

_Cute kid_, a familiar 'voice' said. _The hair's a bit much though_.

Nearly spilling her coffee, Jane looked back to see the spirit sitting on the edge of her desk, watching Kate. The hat was gone and he seemed almost melancholy as he watched her.

"Company?" Kate asked, drawing her attention away from the spirit.

Jane looked at her and nodded. "He likes the hair."

Kate grinned, patting it. "A ghost with good taste, I can go with that."

The spirit rolled his eyes. _I did not say that._

Jane turned her back to Kate and took a few steps closer to him, murmuring, "Warning, any and all messages from beyond the grave are subject to your medium's approval. Content may be edited at any time."

He glared at her. _You_ want _the toilet to back up_?

She smiled beatifically at him. "Don't push me, Casper."

"Oh, it's like _that_ huh?" Kate asked, fingers already flying over the keyboard.

"Pretty much," Jane sighed, sitting down. "I always get the smartasses."

"Or the voyeurs," Kate said.

"Oh, please don't make me think of that," Jane shuddered. "She was there about that damn cat - not _that_."

"Hey, just because the flesh is weak, doesn't mean the spirit's not willing," Kate said, grinning at her.

"You're too young to be thinking that way," Jane said.

"Am not," Kate argued, grin firmly in place.

_She's too young for a lot of things,_ the spirit interjected sadly. _She still has to do them._

Jane frowned at him. "How would you know?" she said, sotto voce.

He looked at her. _I know._

** Kate: **

The office always felt different when a ghost came to play. Though Kate kept her eyes on her computer screen, she knew Jane was watching her. She could almost feel the brief glances her coworker kept throwing her way and she'd been working with Jane long enough to know what that meant.

"So, the ghost has a crush?" she asked finally.

"What?" Jane's fingers stopped typing and Kate looked up to see Jane watching her.

"Your latest ectoplasmic project," Kate clarified. "It's watching me isn't it? You keep looking at me, that means it is too."

Jane shrugged. "I'm ignoring him, he's bored." She got up to refill her coffee, Kate handing off her mug for a top up as she passed. "They're like kids. If you don't chat them up or provide alternate entertainment? They get bored. Just be glad he's not messing with your computer."

"Not if he knows what's good for him," Kate threatened. "I've got a gun full of rock salt and I know how to use it." Which she did. Her Dad had taught her young how to shoot; the same time he'd taught her what a ghost's weaknesses were. She'd pumped more than one ghost full of salt in her day.

Thinking of her dad, she sat back and sighed. "It's been almost six months." Jane gave her a concerned look and she smiled faintly. "I'm holding up well, right? Six months since something murdered by Dad and trashed his place and I'm not a basket case. At least, not most of the time."

"I think you're entitled to be a bit of a basket case," Jane murmured, putting Kate's coffee down before her and touching her knee. "God knows, you've earned it." She hesitated, Kate seeing it just before she asked, "Have the police retrieved anything from the hard drive?"

"Not that they're telling me," Kate grumbled. "I swear, Jane, all I'd need is a couple hours with it. There's no way I couldn't crack it, I practically _designed_ it. No way, Dad could improve on what I did to it." She laughed. "He kept locking himself out."

"Panicked phone calls at two am?" Jane teased, smiling at her then glancing furtively to her right. Her smile faded and she looked down at her shoes, fingers twisting her mug.

Ghosts, they had no respect. Kate glared in the direction Jane had looked. "We are having a _conversation_ Spooky, unless you'd like to share with the rest of us, shush."

Jane chuckled. "Your father teach you to order the dead around like that?"

"Fuck no," Kate smirked. "Daddy taught me the effective use of a match and liberal amounts of accelerant."

"And about the benefits of four letter words," Jane said loftily, sitting down.

"No, that I picked up from you," Kate said. She leaned forward for her coffee. "Every time that clunker you call a car gives up the ghost, you get _creative_."

Jane made a face at her. "No one's supposed to be listening when that happens."

"Oh yeah? You think the entire campus has selective hearing? Only works when Jane's car is sput-sput-sputtering along?" Kate snorted. "Sure, not only are you gifted, you're crazy to boot."

"Girls," Carolina said, sticking her head out of her office. "Am I going to have to put you in the corner?"

"She started it," Jane said, grinning and pointing at Kate.

"Did not," Kate said, defending herself. "The ghost started it."

"The ghost?" Carolina raised an eyebrow. "How can a non-corporeal _spirit_ start something between you two?"

"He's a very talented non-corporeal spirit?" Kate offered. "One with a bit of an attitude and a penchant for annoying geeks?"

Carolina rolled her eyes. "Right," she affirmed then addressed the air. "Knock it off, Casper. Some of us are trying to work here."

Kate coughed to hide a laugh when Jane snorted in disbelief.

Carolina sighed and shook her head. "Why do I keep you two around?"

"The university can't get anyone else willing to put up with your histrionics for the money they pay?" Jane offered.

"I'm just here for the free food," Kate held up her hands. "Starving college students like that."

"Like rats," Jane supplied helpfully. "They get a trace of stray food, they never leave."

"Knew I shouldn't have left those stale donuts lying around," Carolina said. "I thought I told you to toss them out?"

"Nope," Jane shook her head. "You said you were going to. Now look what you've done."

"I'm not the one who keeps giving her coffee," Carolina returned.

"Oh," Kate said, looking at the mug in her hand with exaggerated surprise. "Is _that_ what this is?"

-

It was after midnight before Kate slipped her key into the lock of her apartment. Cool evening air curled beneath her collar as she looked over her shoulder. The night was silent, air still damp from the rain that had just fallen, and still.

So still that Kate couldn't ignore the tension that knotted in her stomach. "Jane and her ghosts," she muttered, pushing inside the apartment. "I never used to be this paranoid."

Closing, and locking, the door behind her, she dropped her keys onto a table and immediately went for the salt. She spent the next few moments drawing lines along the door and the windows. Drawing one finger along the symbols traced into the windowsill, Kate smiled wryly.

"Right," she said. "I'm not paranoid and this place isn't a fortress."

Amused, she left her coat and laptop case where they sat by the door. She'd get them later; the shower was calling her name. As part time jobs went, working for Professor Jones was a pretty sweet gig but the hours could be a real bitch.

"Just like the Professor," Kate said with a laugh as she turned on the water and stepped beneath the spray. The hot water pounded down into her aching muscles and she sighed in relief, turning her back to the spray. She certainly wasn't complaining about Carolina's famed temper. Working for her came with benefits most of the other professors couldn't match; benefits like being able to keep track of her dad's hunting. At least, before he died she could.

"Not as good as going along," she muttered into the water, "but good enough." She stopped, staring at the tile of the shower wall. "Almost." She grabbed her loofah and squeezed it tight, holding it in a death grip. "Fuck."

Turning off the water, she dropped the loofah and got out of the shower to wrap herself in a fluffy towel. It was much to the annoyance of Abner, the grey tabby that had adopted her apartment. He growled at his nap being disturbed, tail twitching ominously.

"Oh knock it off," Kate said, scratching his ears. "You had the whole place to yourself all day. Share a little." Abner tolerated the scratching, he never seemed to want to enjoy it, and she kept talking. "I know what you're thinking, I'm blaming myself for Dad dying and it's stupid. He was at home, it was probably a burgler, and if I had been there, I would have died too."

Abner bumped her hand with his head and she grinned. "You're right, I probably would have. But," she shrugged, "I still think I should have been there."

She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. "I should have."

Something crashed in the living room, causing both cat and mistress to jump. Kate tensed, listening carefully for anything else while Abner yowled and raced out into the hall.

Before she followed him, Kate slid a hand into the top drawer of the sink and pulled it back holding a gun. She checked it carefully before sticking a toe into the crack left by the cat's exit, easing the door back. Abner was nowhere to be seen and she could hear nothing from the living room, but that didn't ease the tension in her spine.

Instead, she hugged the wall and kept going until she could peer around the corner. The odds were against it being anything supernatural, but flesh and blood monsters could do just as much damage. "Daddy didn't raise no fool," she muttered under her breath before risking a look.

The main part of her apartment was, save for a very irritated Abner, devoid of anything living - or dead. What was there, however, made Kate's jaw drop.

"What the hell?" she said, staring at the trashed living room.

Abner meowed, flicking his tail as he looked at the shredded remains of the pillow from his bed.

Kate knew how he felt. Irritation warred with confusion as she checked the salt lines decorating the door and windows. All were unbroken. Nothing had gotten in that way but – "This is hardly the work of your average garden-variety break and enter."

She ignored the look the cat was giving her in favor of prowling around the room, still in her towel, poking at random upturned objects. It was pointless, of course, but it gave her a sense of purpose. Almost like a security blanket but with more near-nudity.

Sighing heavily, she finally dropped onto a pillow and put the gun on the floor beside her. "Perfect way to end a day, huh Abner?"

He bumped against her leg and sat down.

"Yeah," she agreed.

-

"Jane, you've got to stop letting me take your work home with me." Kate announced the next day, sweeping into the office to give the other woman an annoyed expression.

"I'm sorry?" Jane stopped at the printer, looking at her with a confused frown.

"You'd better be," Kate said. She dropped her coat on the chair and turned to her friend. "I'm pretty sure your ghost trashed my living room last night. My cat would very much like an explanation as to why his pillow got slashed to hell and, frankly, he's not the only one."

"And I'd love to give you one," Jane said. "But I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Okay, so it is a him," Kate sat down and went through the motions of opening her laptop. "That's something."

"Are you sure it was the same ghost?"

"Well, he didn't show up and introduce himself," Kate shrugged. "It happened after I got home and into the shower. Before and after I came home, the salt lines I left should have kept anything out. The only thing I can think is that in the moment I stepped through the door, and disturbed the salt, something snuck in." She leaned back in her chair. "Since I haven't been hunting lately, the only supernatural activity I've been around is you and your ghosts."

"They're not _my_ ghosts," Jane protested automatically. "And just because you're not actively hunting right now," the look on her face said she didn't believe that one, "that doesn't mean something didn't follow you home." She said the last with a disapproving look. "You shouldn't be doing that alone, Kate."

"Well, I haven't been, have I?" Kate said. "I just told you I haven't been." Not that little vacation had anything to do with Jane's eternal worries on the subject. Nothing had crossed Kate's path lately and she had been too busy to go looking. "It's not me."

"I think it is," Jane said. "Even if it's the ghost from yesterday, why would he follow _you_ home." She waved a hand to forestall Kate's next comment. "And don't give me any crap about it being the spirit of Don Juan or something. You're not that hot."

"Says you," Kate teased with a dramatic flick of her hair. "Personally, I think I'm damn near irresistible - _especially_ to the undead."

Jane snorted. "Right."

"Right what?" Carolina said from behind a stack of papers as she walked into the office. Both women jumped to help her as they were teetering perilously and no one was in the mood to try putting that stack to rights.

"I'm irresistible to the undead," Kate explained.

"Oh, that," Carolina put the rest of the papers on a free patch of desk and swiped her hair away from her face. "I wasn't aware that was under debate." She looked from Kate to Jane and back again. "And since I've obviously walked into the middle of something, why don't one of you catch me up to speed before I make a complete and utter ass of myself?"

"Kate stole my ghost," Jane said immediately.

"I thought they weren't _your_ ghosts," said Kate. She laughed when Jane made a face at her and headed for coffee. "I thought as much – hey, pour me one too, please?"

"You two are addicted," Carolina observed, hitching a hip up onto the corner of Kate's desk. "Okay, so, Kate you stole a ghost. Any particular reason for your spectral larceny or is this just the latest round of whatever game it is you two are playing?"

"I have no idea," Kate shrugged. "He followed me home and trashed my place." Some day, she wanted to say something to Carolina and actually succeed in shocking her. Just once. "Ripped up Abner's pillow and everything."

Carolina winced. "God, that must've put the little bastard in a mood."

Kate snickered. "You could _try_ sounding sympathetic."

"I could," Carolina agreed. "I would even do a passable job of it." She smiled. "We would all know I was lying."

She and Abner had history; it wasn't pleasant. Still, Kate grinned and nodded. "Okay, so ghost shows up, trashes my living room, and disappears to God knows where."

"That's all it did?" Jane frowned. "Really? No attempts at communication?"

"I'm not sure it _can_," Kate said. "I mean, if it could have, wouldn't it have tried to scare the hell out of me after it trashed the place?"

"Or, maybe it trashed the place as it tried to communicate with you," Carolina suggested. "If something meant business, and you were at home when it happened, it would have just gone straight for you."

"She's got a point," Jane agreed. "After all, most ghosts who enter evil spirit territory usually dispense with the ominous warnings and go right for the blood letting."

"I _know_," said Kate. "I'm the one who likes to make a hobby out of filling them with rock salt, remember?"

"Unfortunately," Jane passed a mug to Carolina then Kate. "Want me to swing by your apartment? See if the ghost is still there?"

"If you would," Kate said, stirring her coffee thoughtfully. "I was careful not to disturb the salt when I left so, hopefully, it should still be trapped in there."

** Carolina: **

"With Abner?" Carolina looked aghast. "The poor ghost!" Kate made a face at her and she grinned, adding, "Whoever it is, Katherine, the poor man is already dead. Must you ruin his afterlife with _Abner_?"

It was the use of her full name, she suspected, that had Kate throwing a paperball at her. Still grinning, Carolina knocked it away and got up to get herself a cup of coffee. Passing Jane, she shared a look with her, asking a question in the glance.

Jane lifted her shoulders in a shrug, gave a slight shake of her head.

"Damn," Carolina muttered. She had been hoping that Jane would've at least gotten the ghost's damn name out of him. Dumping far too much sugar into her coffee, she pushed her hair over her shoulder and turned to lean against the filing cabinet. "You know, before you two started working here, my life was pretty normal."

The casually voiced comment had the other two women choking on their coffee and she gave them both reproachful looks. "_Really_," she insisted. "I taught class, I terrified students with my finals, I even went on the odd dig."

"You mean hunt," Kate said with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean _dig_," Carolina shook her head. "I would never do such a thing. Like my grandfather before me, I consider all the international treaties on antiquities to be sacrosanct."

"Watch it, Kate," Jane warned. "If she gets struck by lightning, your computer is toast."

"I am _serious_," Carolina said, laughing.

"Sure you are," Kate agreed, making Carolina laugh harder by moving the computer to safety. "You're serious, and I'm the love child of Sarah McLachlan and Britney Spears."

Jane snickered. "Now there's a mental picture I didn't need."

"I don't know," Carolina tilted her head. "I can kind of see it." She smiled. "It works for you, though. You can cancel that appointment with the plastic surgeon. Just play a few emo songs, shake what your mamas gave you, and get good and laid."

"That an offer?" Kate asked, batting her eyelashes.

Laughing again, Carolina shook her head. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to turn down your incredibly sweet overture, Katherine, university policy forbids me getting lucky with the students."

"Or the help," Jane smirked. "Otherwise, she'd be chasing me around the desk daily."

"You two keep this up," Carolina said, amused. "And folks'll talk."

"Which you like," Kate pointed out. "Ms. I-Carry-A-Bullwhip-And-I-Know-How-To-Use-It-Just-Ask-Me-How."

"You know, with a name like that, I can see why you'd go by Carolina," Jane said with a smirk.

"Well, it is tradition," Carolina said, her mind still mulling over the conversation she'd interrupted. "After all, Grandpa named himself after the dog."

"Oh god, _seriously_?" Kate blinked. "I thought those movies were bullshit."

"They are," said Carolina. She didn't try to keep the aggravation from her voice. Everyone on campus knew of her extreme dislike for all things Spielberg. "Complete and utter bullshit."

"So, pretty much bang on?" Kate said, looking over at Jane.

"Where the Jones family is concerned?" Jane nodded. "Yes."

"Dude," Kate grinned at Carolina. "Your family seriously trumps mine in the fucked up department. No wonder you like hanging out with hunters."

"I hang out with them," Carolina said, taking another sip of coffee, "because most of them pay well." Well, the ones who weren't named Winchester paid well. "And they have the fun requests."

"And by fun," Jane put in, "she means life-endangering peril at every turn."

"God, I hope so," Carolina said, pushing away from the filing cabinet. "All right, you two, back to your ghost discussion. I am going to go pretend to be a boring college professor."

"Wearing your grandfather's hat and daydreaming of golden arks?" Kate asked sweetly.

"And if you're very, very lucky," Carolina winked at her, "I might even imagine you along for the ride."

-

Carolina was halfway through a stack of paperwork on the next semester's budget when Jane rapped softly on the door, letting herself in at the same time. "So, you really have no idea who it is?" she asked without looking up.

"Not a clue," Jane sighed. "He hasn't shown up today. I think he really must be trapped in Kate's apartment."

"Which means you have to get over there," Carolina said. "See what's got him so riled up. If we wait for Kate - "

Jane nodded at her, clearing out a chair so she could sit. "Salt and burn."

"Or, in the absence of bones, the closest alternative that she can get." Carolina nodded, rubbing her forehead. "My life really was simpler before this came along." Ghosts, demons, and the myriad of other things hunters had introduced her to, tended to be a pain in the ass. Generally.

"You hate simple," Jane said, grinning.

"Damn it," Carolina sighed. "I hate it when you're right."

"I know, it's why you're such a sourpuss all the time," Jane nodded, giving her a superior look.

Carolina snorted. "Tell me another one, John Edwards," she said, reaching for the stack of papers one of her TAs' had graded, "like maybe the _name_ of your little friend."

"Which I can't give you if he won't show up," Jane said, sticking out her tongue.

"Interesting that he won't," Carolina mused, giving the first paper a quick read through.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, if he were attached to something that I brought back from the field, wouldn't he be sticking close by? Why leave to follow Kate home in the first place?" Carolina put down the paper and focused on the next one. "Is it possible that our ghostly friend isn't even here for an artifact?"

"You think he's here for Kate?" Jane said.

Carolina looked up from the papers. "It's possible. Our little hunter isn't exactly Buffy the Vampire Slayer but she does her share. Maybe someone's followed her back here for a little payback. Maybe Kate dispatched his ghostly girlfriend to the great beyond?"

"Maybe," Jane allowed. "And maybe I need to get over there and have a little chat with him."

"Wouldn't hurt," Carolina said. "Maybe if he's trapped in that apartment, he'll be more inclined to share a little information in order to get out." She smiled. "Twist his metaphysical arm, so to speak."

Jane got up, "Something like that," she said, pushing the chair back into place. "I think now would be a good time to take a lunch break."

"Need any help palming Kate's keys?"

"Oh no, I'm taking her with me." Jane grinned. "If this guy is out for vengeance, I want someone good with a gun along for the ride."

Carolina smiled, nodding. "Point," she allowed. "But be careful, all right?"

"As careful as you would be," Jane said and closed the door behind her.

"Oh yes," said Carolina, her words dry. "I'm _so_ reassured." Putting down the papers, she snatched up the phone.

** Jane: **

"All right, kiddo, drop the computer and let's go," said Jane, when the door had clicked shut behind her. She watched Kate lift her gaze from the laptop's screen, looking at her blankly. "You heard me, Katherine, grab your coat."

"Where are we going, exactly?" Kate asked, closing the laptop slowly.

"We are going to your apartment," Jane explained. "There, I am going to figure out what the hell is going on." She leaned across her own desk, snatching her favorite jacket off her chair.

"We can't just take off and go ghost hunting!" Kate protested, looking at her in shock. "I have _work_ to do."

"Oh please, you're filthy stinking rich; you didn't take this job for the money." Jane said, grinning. "You took this job because your father wanted you to." She jerked her thumb back at Carolina's office. "For obvious reasons."

Kate smiled innocently. "Did not."

"Uh huh," Jane pushed Kate's coat her. "You do realize you can't lie to me, right?"

"Doesn't stop me from trying," Kate said.

"Trying being the operative term," Jane said, sliding into her own jacket. "For someone who spends her spare time dispatching ghosts, demons, and all manner of hairy critters and lying to cover it up – you really aren't that good at it."

"It's a failing," Kate agreed. "I generally just rely on my boobs."

Jane laughed and looked at her. "That, Katherine, would be why you're a lousy liar."

-

"So, is he in there or not?"

Jane looked away from the window, back at Kate with an expression of annoyance. "A _moment_ to find out would be good," she said, irritated. "You want fast service, go to McDonalds."

Kate grinned and held up her hands, "Sorry! I'll just be over here somewhere, letting you work and, you know, tapping my foot impatiently."

"Hunters," Jane said, rolling her eyes as she turned around, squeaking in surprise when she found the spirit staring at her through the window. "Son of a bitch! A little warning would not kill you!"

He grinned wryly, _I'm already dead._

She made a face. "Fine, be picky."

"Do you see him?" Kate called out. "Or are you just cursing at yourself?"

"Bite me," Jane said, turning back to her. "For your information, I do see him and I am talking to him. Give us a minute?"

_She always did have her mother's temper,_ the spirit said from behind her and Jane froze.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" she asked slowly, turning back to him.

He smiled. _What do you think I said?_

"Yeah," Jane closed her eyes and nodded. "So last night was – ?"

_Me trying to talk to her, it's not as easy as they always made it look._ He looked frustrated.

"No, it wouldn't be," she said. "Surprisingly, it takes _time_ to build up the ability to do that." Turning, she held out her hand for the key. "Come on, we're going inside."

"_Inside_?" Kate repeated with disbelief. "You did remember the part where there's a spirit trapped in there."

"One who wants to talk to you," Jane assured.

Kate folded her arms across her chest, keys visible in one clenched fist. "So, you're saying that last night was him trying to chat me up?" She grinned. "Come on Jane, even I don't believe that one. Ghosts can appear physically."

"Sure they can," Jane nodded. "Ghosts can appear after they've had enough time to learn how, not to mention enough time to build up the energy to create a visible form. This one is still working on that. He's built up enough energy to be able to affect the physical world but, still working on the bringing it together." She wiggled her fingers at Kate. "And that concludes our lesson in metaphysics for the day, give me the damn keys."

Kate handed them over and Jane smiled brightly. "See, now was that so hard?"

-

** Kate: **

When Jane unlocked the door and pushed it open, Kate was surprised by her question. "I thought you said this place got trashed?"

"It _did_," Kate shouldered her way past Jane to find her living room in near-pristine condition. "What the hell? It's cleaner than I keep it." She walked around the room, staring at everything. What could be repaired, had been repaired. The only sign anything had happened was the absence of Abner's pillow and a few other broken items. "How?"

"Looks like your ghost cleaned up after himself." Jane took a seat on the futon that, even pre-ghostly vandalism, had seen better days. "I think he even waxed the floors."

Kate looked down at the old wood and blinked. "Son of a bitch."

"Watch your language young lady," Jane corrected smartly.

Shrugging out of her coat, Kate rolled her eyes at her. "You did NOT just say that."

Jane shifted uncomfortably, "I was just relaying the message." Her eyes went to the sofa and Kate realized who she'd relayed it for.

"Oh god, I am not getting lectured on language by a _ghost_!" Kate glared at the empty spot. "You are kidding me!"

"He is not," Jane assured. "You weren't raised to use that kind of language, Katherine Marie and you won't be using it now."

Kate sat down with a thump. "Fuck."

"Not that one either." Jane said.

"It's my damn apartment, I'll curse if I want to," Kate said automatically.

"You're not the one who bought it," Jane reminded, again looking at the empty spot on the couch.

"I am not having this fight again," Kate snapped. "It's my place, I pay the bills, and I'm not going to get told by a _ghost_ how to behave in it."

"Katherine," Jane said. Her voice sounded different, like someone else, and Kate closed her eyes. "You're trying to change the subject."

"Yeah I guess I am," Kate admitted, her voice small as she decided to cut to the heart of it. "The ghost's my Dad, isn't it?" Her dad was a _ghost_. She shivered, knowing what that would mean. "I can't salt and burn my own father."

"_Hunters_," Jane said with annoyance. "Why is it always with the melodramatic solutions with you lot?" Kate opened her eyes to watch the other woman glare at the spot where her dad was probably sitting. "Don't you start with me, Stephen Wandell. You should have told me from the get go."

Whatever her dad said made Jane wave an irritated hand and mutter, "Hunters, always have to be so goddamn stubborn! Would it kill you to ask for help? And yes, I _know_ you're already dead! Case in point!"

"Jane," Kate frowned. "Please stop arguing with my father's ghost. It's disconcerting."

"Then tell him to quit being an asshole," Jane sighed.

"Tried that," Kate shrugged. "Didn't listen to me then, doubt he will now."

"He regrets that," Jane said in a softer tone, looking sympathetic. "He regrets a lot of things." She squared her shoulders and added, "Which is what he's doing here. We do this right, Kate, and I promise, your Dad moves on the good, old-fashioned way. No salt or burning required."

"Oh god," Kate sat up, looking horrified. "Is this going to be a Ghost Whisperer moment?"

Jane made a face. "Do I look like Jennifer Love Hewitt to you?" She pointed at Kate, stern-faced. "Keep in mind, any answer but no ma'am will result in you walking back to the campus."

"No ma'am," Kate said obediently. Never let it be said she was stupid. Jane would do it in a heartbeat; she knew how many concealed weapons Kate liked to carry.

"Good," Jane smiled. "Now, back to the family bonding moment."

"Bonding with my father's ghost," Kate sighed. "Forget Ghost Whisperer, I think I'm headed straight for Jerry Springer."

"Well, you've got the hair for it." Jane said. "Your father hates the streaks. What were you thinking with blue?"

Kate groaned. "Forget what I said, Jane, I'm good with salting and burning."

"Oh no you don't," her father said and Kate looked up in shock to see him sitting on the couch. "We're going to talk, Katherine, if it's the last thing I do." He looked chagrined. "Actually, it will be, won't it?"

-

"I thought you couldn't appear?" Kate asked as Jane excused herself into the bathroom.

"Up until now, I couldn't," he said, moving toward her. His movements were stilted, like most of the ghosts she'd seen. "I guess this was the kick in the butt I needed."

"Be thankful you don't have an actual butt anymore," she said, sniffling. "Otherwise, I would be kicking it. What happened, Dad?"

He looked embarrassed. "Demon-possessed kid got the better of me."

"Seriously?" she raised her eyebrows. "That's it?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She rubbed her forehead. "Well, I guess that's better than a robbery."

"You bought the robbery story?" Her father frowned. "Someone smashes the hell out of the computer, don't look for any valuables, and my _daughter_ thinks robbery? You know better than that, Katherine."

"Of course I do!" She snapped. "But the wouldn't let me anywhere near the crime scene, so I couldn't prove a word of it. The cops won't let me near the harddrive or I would have by now."

He looked amused. "You haven't tried hacking their system?"

"First thing I did," Kate shrugged. "They must've farmed it out."

"Atta girl," he said fondly.

"Why are you still here, Dad?" she asked. "Things were good, right? So, no unfinished business unless the kid's still possessed -"

"He's not," her father assured. "Kid's another hunter. His friends took care of it."

"Okay, so no vengeance needed," Kate made a note to pass the information along. "Want me to pass that on to the boys? They're probably still trying to do something very stupid."

He chuckled. "Please."

"That's not why you're here, is it?"

He shook his head. "No."

Kate swallowed hard, choking back a sudden wave of tears as she realized the real reason. "I don't want to do it." She wasn't talking about salting and burning her father's bones and they both knew it.

"Me either," her father said. "But it's what I came here to do and if I don't - "

She nodded, not needing him to finish. There were plenty of hunters willing to do what she couldn't. Lowering her head, Kate closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. "Okay."

A feather soft touch on her hair that might have been a kiss, a murmured "Goodbye," and she was alone.

"Bye," Kate whispered.

** Carolina: **

"So, it was her father all along?" Carolina said, passing the flask to Jane. "Everything that happened was a part of his attempting to reach her?"

For once, Jane didn't argue, just took the flask and swigged. "Yep," she coughed, passing the flask back. "And you think he told me that?"

"Oh hell no," Carolina said as she put the flask between them, standing it up on the stone tile. Leaning back against the wall, she propped her feet up on the balcony railing and looked skyward. "That would make it _way_ too easy."

"Ghosts are a pain in the ass," Jane sighed, resting her head against Carolina's shoulder.

"No, _men_ are a pain in the ass," Carolina corrected, patting her knee. "Unfortunately, that even includes the dead ones."

"Damn straight," Jane picked up the again. "Kate said her father's killer was possessed."

Carolina nodded, wishing the city's lights didn't obscure the stars. "So I've heard," she said. "Demonic equivalent of a frame-up." She smirked in the dark. She'd always thought demons stuck mostly to pea soup and head-spinning.

"You called Bobby?"

"Right after you left."

"How much did he tell you?"

"He gave me the highlights and that was it," Carolina said. "He knows who it was, but he's afraid what I'll do with the information."

"Bobby knows Kate works for you," Jane yawned. "He's being cautious; you know how hunters love vengeance."

"Mmm, yeah," Carolina sighed. "Somehow, I don't see our Katie turning this little tale into "Kill Bill" volume three." She pushed to her feet, picking up the flask. "Speaking of, I feel like watching blood, guts, and gore."

"Right," Jane agreed. "Next crisis - running out of popcorn."


End file.
